Hindi Zahra, to close the weekend on an ethereal note. Hailed throughout Europe as an astonishing talent, with mind-blowing music and an underrated artist of exceptional talent – those are a few of the superlatives being bandied about between fans and Press. She is rapidly becoming a household name overseas. Here is the U.S., well . . that’s another story.

Suffice to say, Hindi Zahra is an experience not to miss. Her Moroccan roots seamlessly embrace her French sensibilities of luxuriant shaping of songs – her interpretations offer up an enticing palette of Jazz, Chanson, soundscape and ethnic/world music.

Zahra was raised by her Moroccan mother, a dancer and actress, in Khouribga, Morocco. At the age of fifteen, she left school and moved to Paris to live with her father, who had been a soldier. At age 18 she worked at the Louvre.

Zahra wrote her first lyrics and melodies. She is a self-taught multi-instrumentalist. By 2005 she had written about 50 songs of which Beautiful Tango, Oursoul, Try, and Stand Up were first released on the EP Hindi Zahra in 2009 and eleven songs were recorded on Hindi Zahra’s first album which was released in January 2010 by the Jazz label Blue Note Records. The video to the opening song Beautiful Tango was made by French director Tony Gatlif. The song Stand Up was chosen for a commercial campaign by Western Union. In June 2010 she collaborated with French musician Blundetto on his debut album Bad Bad Things. In November 2010, Hindi Zahra won the Prix Constantin for Best Album. In February 2011, she won the Victoires de la Musique award for the best World music album.

In 2014 she had roles in the films The Narrow Frame of Midnight by Tala Hadid and in The Cut by Fatih Akin.

In April 2015 her second studio album Homeland was released.

If you haven’t yet discovered her, by all means, take the next 58 minutes and get acquainted – it’s truly a lovely and worthwhile experience.

3 Responses

This is fabulous stuff, Gordon, but you have a problem at around 5:25, where someone bursts in with an extended ad. In English, which makes it unlikely to have been part of the original Radio France Bleu broadcast.

Pick a day. Any day.

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Gordon Skene, two-time Grammy Nominee and archivist runs The Gordon Skene Sound Archive and this website, which is dedicated to preserving and encouraging an interest in history and historic news, events, and cultural aspects of our society. Past Daily is the only place on the Internet where you can hear a Nixon speech, listen to an interview with John Cassavettes or play a broadcast of Charles Munch rehearsing the Boston Symphony in 1950, all in the same place. It's living history and it's timeless.